Royale Remixed v1.46 Final.



I started the mod not knowing the scope left unfinished by M$ in Royale Noir,
kinda in over my head in having to redo the thing more than half over..
worse since I've never made a VS before...

Theme contains the original Royale (Blue),
this finished Royale Noir,
and a completely bug free Zune.

If any appreciates this, kindly read the changalog in windows\resources\themes\ for the long list of things I've done.


but here it is for sharing anyway, I present my 1st VS effort...

Downloads:
deviantART



Can't get the theme to work?
oddbasket's mini-FAQ

Great stuff...I will be installing this on my laptop later on...Just need to patch it first.

wow, this theme is good.

thanks!

Dude, your theme is nice, but I REALLY don't appreciate having half of my system settings changed just to install it. If I wanted different fonts, cursors etc. I'd apply them myself.

REALLY good. id definately install this on my bros pc but something about that task bar is wrong....why did you leave the top part out? or is it only like that on screenies?

great vs! well done

I like

Nice oddbasket! I really like your work and am glad you are starting to post here.

Great job

Well done - keep up the good work!

CeNo.

yah, that theme doesn't work for me..

Great work...congrats! I will be using it on my second computer tonight.

Thanks!

What he said..

I'm downloading, but it is not going to be main. Pretty Nice try anyway.

plus I would prefer to have a standalone Zune version without the Royale and Noir bundled together. I'm still running v1.1 I think because of it.

My name isnt Adam.

The theme doesn't have a start button that says adam... it says start, that is a registry hack... do you really think he would release it with a start button that says adam?

Cookie for Captain Obvious?

Fonts are not change, and I made it a point to add schemes to sound and mouse in control panel so you can change to and from them easily so they are optional.





It's just a screenshot showing the changes done. Just like the 'Turn off computer' doesn't stay on the screen all the time.

You can try fazedreality's standalone Zune here which I helped to make it bugfree as well.

Thanks for pointing that out to me Oddbasket, however I still like your version better. I'll just stay on the 1.1 version for now.

Preferably chocolate chip

spammers have no right calling on someone stating the obvious in the 1st place, good one! :thumbsup:

Using it now, "It's niicee" as Borat would say.

I think you can split them up using stylebuilder easily, I've seen people do it, import delete the unwanted scheme and save. But I'm not familiar with stylebuilder, so anyone that can help amd2500+ with the steps is appreciated.



And to those who commented,
Thanks for the appreciation from everyone so far!

What a shame...the theme looked really nice but it f***ed it up with the installation side of it...what a balls up..

Y'know, you can just choose to apply the msstyles instead of applying the whole theme like you normally would any VS you download from Neowin, there is a choice. If you choose to apply the whole theme that change the icons, cursors and sounds instead of the just msstyles, then don't complain that it changes stuff and such. Because, you are the one who clicked it.

It's a shame there's people who can't see beyond the superficial...

C'mon guys.

Install it - Do NOT click on Apply - Save the folder in \resources\themes to a safe place - Uninstall it - Copy the folder over again

It's really easy.

How did you manage to get the black background on the Alcohol120% Sidepanel? I've managed to get the black background on the Search Sidepanel, but not in Alcohol120%.

Thanks, buddy. These so called 'IT geniuses' just need to learn how to use a computer...

Install it, but under the 'Display Properties' where it specifically says 'Themes'... do not choose my theme because it obviously applies the whole theme... duh?
Under the 'Appearance' tab is where it applies just the msstyles... or just browse and double click the .msstyles....

And they are supposed to be experts at using custom VS's...... they know this, but instead of putting the knowledge to use, they complain.... tell M$ you don't like the name 'Vista' and see if they change it...



what do you mean, I just ran Alcohol and the background looks black to me...

I just use winrar to extract the files I want from the MSI - this is a very nice theme

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it

Yeah, its funny you should say that, I did a mod of a theme and corrected it so that the sidepanels would be black and Alcohol is the only app that gives me a white sidepanel

oh, you meant your mod? well the background alcohol uses is the bitmap EXPLORERBARHEADERBACKGROUND.BMP.

Nice mod oddbasket but I really hate the blue highlights of the maximize and minimize buttons. Other than that good work mate Really like the new progress bar.

Interesting, I wish I could do things like this.

I can't please everybody, hope you understand. During the course of 1 month, i've fulfilled every request I could from both neowin and my own forum and through emails, (explains all the many incremental changes), and this is the final product. I've did my best trying to please everybody, even coming up with a few custom packs for those out of the way changes. At least no one can say I didn't give my all for the people here...


well, i bet you could if you want to. i didn't know anything about modding a VS until I discovered the Royale Noir and set out to finish it, which was like a month ago..

At first I was a bit indignant that so many interface settings were changed in the process of trying to simply install another visual style. But after steaming over it for a little bit, I discovered that I actually liked most of the changes - especially the audio effects. I still think the desktop extras should have been discretionary - but hey, it's all good. Thanks.

Its a shame that you had to automate it all. 90% of the styles on here come by themselves with 'recommendations' for the icons, other stuff etc. If you just left it as the msstyle and not part of an installation package, all would have been good.

Thats just pathetic. I'm perfectly happy with the standard classic theme with XP but I saw this and though it would be worth giving it a go.

Clearly, its not.

Not bad. I rather enjoy the Zune theme.

Thanks, I'll try that out.

Well done on finishing the theme, it's a pitty Microsoft did such a poor job of it! A black version of Royale could have had a lot of promise but some of the shades used in this theme just don't compliment each other to the extent that they look ugly! I'm sticking to Luna Element.

It makes you wonder, don't Microsoft ever look at the Internet community and think why can't our designers do such a good job?

Well it is a complete theme I'm putting out, and I've never said it wasn't or otherwise. And yet the standard classic theme behaves the same way when you apply it by applying icons and the default windows cursor scheme? Have you complained to M$ yet? Slap yourself twice while trying to justify yourself, why don'cha?? Just learn how to use a computer, and apply the msstyles instead of the theme. For a guy with a tech blog, you sure are petty and not very computer savvy...



Which ones? I might take a look at it, but actually all the shades of black are the default Noir color scheme, I didn't change that.

I was already using the Vista sounds and cursors so I have no issue that they come with the theme.

For those whining about it, just extract the .MSI installer and open that in WinRAR and you can take out only the theme. Stop crying about something so little and stupid. A couple clicks and you can change your sounds and cursors back. It's not the end of the world.

Love this theme

Well, that is part of the problem. The default Noir in my opinion is just very poor! In comparison to Royale it's hard to believe it was created by the same guys, if it was created by the same guys.

Some examples:
[attachmentid=170893]
The taskbar is the worst IMO. The grey taskbar just doesn't go well with the black start button and systray.

[attachmentid=170897]
Royale - I personally feel the lighter shades here work better in the systray and start menu as opposed to the taskbar being the lighter shade. The taskbar, seeing as it takes up the better part of the screen, should have the darker shade or carry the same shade throughout its entirety. (Including the systray - Check Luna Element for an example of this)

[attachmentid=170894]
Again, with the Start Menu, the grey just doesn't complement the black username bar. I've seen better themes use a black user bar with a white menu background or with a totally black start menu and it looks a lot better. You can see this below with LE5:

[attachmentid=170899]
Luna Element 5.0.5 - Much more pleasant on the eye and a nice mix rather than the dull colours adopted by Noir. It's Noir, doesn't mean it has to be dull!

[attachmentid=170895]
The Explorer window also uses a black titlebar but the shellstyle is grey. Again resulting in a very dull look. The original Royale produces the Explorer window much better because the shellstyle and titlebar are much similar.

Like I said, well done for completing the theme, I just feel that Microsoft could have done a lot better designing it. Royale was great, 1 of the best themes for Windows XP in my opinion, but this was a poor attempt at a "Noir/Black" version.

Hehe, that was a quick "Personal Review" of Royale Noir!

Glad to see someone who knows what he wants. I thought the systray was an improvement actually and god knows Royale blinds my eyes after I've switched to an LCD screen and I've only used dark themes ever since.

All your points are valid I suppose, except if you want to compare a black theme, you should compare to Zune instead since Noir is pretty much a grey theme to begin with despite the name as far as I can see.

Royale Noir's good for me though since I don't go for true black themes, they tend to overshadow colors and details sometimes, but again not everyone's affected by this.



Well said. Thank you, buddy!


Thanks for the support!

Never thought of that, Zoom. It would definitely look better if those features/fixes were implemented

Noir is more blue than black anyway, this Zune theme is amazing friend! Keep it up, I would LOVE to see only a smaller taskbar, that would rock, keep the start menu the same though. And as for the guy complaining about Noir. Dont use it dude, Use Zune, it rocks!

Here's a shot of how I modify Zune for WB for my use.

nice theme! but the link to the x64 installer doesn't work anymore.

Hi,

Thanks for sharing - happy holidays.